Apollo's fire : a day on Earth in nature and imagination

A lighthearted tour of the developmental synergies of life throughout the course of a single day touches on a broad variety of cultural and natural topics, from the color of the sky and the course of the sun to the iconography of prehistoric Egyptian sculpture.

Morning twilight --
Stephen Dedalus's cosmic address --
Darkness --
The threat of dawn --
A light in the East --
Smiley --
A perfect story --
Chariot --
The endless array --
A year of light --
Down to Earth --
Sun sister and moon brother --
Spin --
Apollo bright and pure --
The sun of fire and water --
Chariot --
Dance --
The day of the sun --
The law of dance --
Not invisible --
The constellations flee --
Mere fire --
High noon --
Shadow show --
Hunt the shadow --
Measure the Earth --
The equation of time --
Written on the sky --
Artificial clouds --
Gunfight in Abilene --
Firmament --
After --
The flapping of a black wing --
A strong metal bowl --
A white-hot arrow --
What makes the wind blow? --
Policeman ozone --
A presumptuous smoke --
The two most beautiful words --
The silent concert --
Glorified sparrows --
The path of the light --
Diamond dust and sun dogs --
Sunset races --
The Nile dries up --
All those cares and fears --
Sic transit --
Feeding time at loch ness --
The evening and the morning --
Two lights --
Nessie and the bat --
The twilight zone --
Three kinds of twilight --
Memory has left the sky --
Afraid of the dark --
Thunderbolt --
The changing of the guard --
Lag --
Darwin's busy plants --
Pillars of light --
Pale fire --
The parish lantern --
A rock in the sky --
The archangel's telescope --
Sunrise on the moon --
The cup of the immortal fluid --
Eclipse --
Infinite --
The lion or the lobster? --
Inconstant star --
Mean time --
The black of night --
Swimming allegories --
This Earth in space.

Résumé :

A lighthearted tour of the developmental synergies of life throughout the course of a single day touches on a broad variety of cultural and natural topics, from the color of the sky and the course of the sun to the iconography of prehistoric Egyptian sculpture.

Apollo's fire: a day on earth in nature and imagination

Review of Apollo's fire: a day on earth in nature and imagination by Michael Sims published by Viking of London in 2007

Reviewer: W. P. Palmer

The author information on the book's cover states that Michael Sims is `acclaimed for his witty and original take on the natural world.'...Lire la suite...

Review of Apollo's fire: a day on earth in nature and imagination by Michael Sims published by Viking of London in 2007

Reviewer: W. P. Palmer

The author information on the book's cover states that Michael Sims is `acclaimed for his witty and original take on the natural world.' There are certainly some original and entertaining parts of the book, but overall these are few and far between! There is far too much pointless verbiage. The power of the author's scientific explanation is limited. For example, take the section explaining the effect in terms of global warming or cooling of jet engine contrails on high flying aircraft. The author expands on several general principles correctly, but the examples provided do not appear to follow the logic of the principles the author established.

There could be numerous scientific reasons why the theory and practice differ, but although interesting the section needs revision. I have asked several people to read this section (pp. 100-102) and they all find that there is something amiss.

I was interested in learning about Luke Howard (pp. 95-96) as I had not come across him previously. Similarly I found that the Galileo story (pp. 207-216) good, particularly his last discovery (p. 215). Generally the book is bitty- good in parts, like the curate's egg. The connecting theme of the `phaeton' travelling across the sky does provide an integrating theme, as such integration is greatly needed.